I'm going to take a brief break from the Plenilune Colour Collage series to fill out an angry a book-related blog questionnaire that I was tagged in. This tag is all about books you would utilize in violent manners (rather than read) because you have such a low opinion of them, you don't mind them getting destroyed - but you're practical, so you want to use them somehow. Or something like that. Look, it's a blog tag; there isn't usually an abundance of logic involved.

oh, i have an unofficial resolution to read library books this year. i hate the pressure of having to return a book so then i end up not reading them. i intend to change that this year; subsequently, the image below is one of my own & not pilfered off borrowed from pinterest!

AN OVER-HYPED BOOK || You are in a bookstore when the zombies attack. Over the loudspeakers you hear the military announce that over-hyped books are the zombies' only weakness. What over-hyped book will you chuck at the zombies?

I'm gonna go with One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. No, I'm gonna go with the whole shelf of them because the book isn't that large (thank goodness). Inspirational Christian literature written by women usually gives me hives just thinking about; this one, I had the misfortune of trying to read shortly after my daughter was born & I was neck-deep in postpartum anxiety + depression. Oh yeah, it opens with a retelling of her little sister getting hit + killed by a truck. Thanks. That's exactly what a hormone-ravaged young mother wants to read. Sure thing. HELL NO.

NOTE: if you want to know where God is when life is tough & why bad things happen to people, maybe spend some time reading the Old Testament & less contemporary Christian inspirational literature.

RUNNER-UP: Game of Thrones, even though I haven't actually read any of them. Periodically, I think, "Oh, maybe those would be cool to - " SMACK. JENNY. GET IT TOGETHER.

A SEQUEL || You are caught in a torrential downpour and you're probably the type who melts when you get wet. What sequel are you willing to use as an umbrella to protect yourself.

My original draft of Adamantine. XD I was going to go with my original draft for Ethandune, but the Adamantine draft was more substantial & would potentially provide more coverage + time to get me through the rain. Yes, I have no qualms about using my old manuscripts as umbrellas. They should not see the light of day anyway.

EDIT: I'm counting this as a sequel because it is looseishly tied to Plenilune & is therefore readable directly after my published novel & is kind of like a sequel if you squint + you're drunk + you don't look up the definition of "sequel" in the dictionary thanks.

A CLASSIC || You're in English class and your professor won't stop going on about a classic that "revolutionized literature". Personally you think the classic is garbage and you decide to express your opinion by hurling the book at his head. What classic is that?

Ooh, that's a difficult choice. I think I'll go with The Odyssey, followed closely (& literally) by Le Morte D'Arthur. I can only conclude that editors were not an established demographic for literature during antiquity, otherwise the rambling saga of Odysseus' "journey" home would have been a lot shorter (I thought he didn't even want to go to Troy??). And for being a book about the death of one of the greatest legends in British history, Le Morte D'Arthur is largely nonsense. UTTER nonsense. I feel like you could give the general outline of the plot to Tumblr, & Tumblr would craft a better, more interesting, + far more plausible story.

go for it, tumblr

A LEAST-FAVOURITE BOOK || You're hanging out at a bookstore when global warming somehow manages to to turn the whole world into a frozen wasteland. Naturally, your only hope of survival is to burn a book. Which book would you not regret tossing into the fire?

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. First of all, don't try rewriting so complex a book as Hosea; not a good idea. Second: if you do, maybe try making it a little more subtle...? Explicit allegory is good when, say, Bunyan does it - not when another inspirational female Christian author does it. And thirdly: hEH BLEH don't write bodice-rippers in the name of Christ oh my lands.

A SERIES || There's a flooded stream you have to cross on your quest and you can't get your feet wet. Which series (you have an undetectable extension charm on your purse) will you use as stepping stones?

Ironically, The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin. I really wanted to like these! I thought they were going to be a cool new world. But alas, I was underwhelmed. I am unabashedly in favour of the film "Tales From Earthsea" over the books, because the pose + plots were lacklustre to me, but the film was done by a Miyazaki, so how could you go wrong...?

there you have it, folks! five books that make me angry + that i wouldn't hesitate to utilize at the expense of their existence. p.s. we are of course vastly better than these books; standing on the moral high ground helps you throw when you have scant arm strength.

are you a human being? do you have an opinion? go ahead + make your own rage-quit-five posts, & be sure to share the links below!

Here is the fourth installment of the Plenilune Colour Collage series from yours truly the monochrome minimalist! Irony is delicious & is best served hot. This installment is also later than I'd like because Zzzzzzz...

disclaimer: caveat emptor, none of these images belong to me, i'm just sayin'. but they're pretty awesome. still just sayin'.

|| INDIGO ||

Watered down to periwinkle or concentrated into the deepest hue, what colour better embodies the changeableness of the sky?Indigo an elevating colour, indicative of advancement in the virtues; it is the colour of stability, masculinity, + lordship; it is associated with the supernatural, & in Plenilunar art it represents sapience + beatification (in tapestries + paintings, the Magi are always depicted in robes of indigo + gold for this reason).

o Lord my God, thou art very great;

thou art clothed with honour + majesty.

who coverest thyself with light as with a garment:

who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters:

who maketh the clouds his chariot:

who walketh upon the wings of the wind

I notice that I use indigo least of the spectrum, & then usually as an intellectual indicator (dark blue), or to give the impression of purity (light blue). I have used it as a particularly significant motif (if it was subtle or not i don't know you'll have to tell me) as the dominant eye-colour of the House of Cheval: it goes hand-in-glove (body metaphors be jumbled) with the visionary + the ability to manipulate star-craft, also the motif functions as mental coordinates for the reader, letting him know roughly where he is + connecting him to other parts of the Plenilunar arc as a whole.

The sunlight made the whole room amber-coloured, like a woodbank in autumn, and the professor looked like a grey, narrow heron on the woodshore, robed in faded blue shades like the sky of a world which is tired of living.

lamblight

And when I say I use this colour least, I mean I could barely find any instances of it as I poured amongst my manuscripts so MAYBE I SHOULD CHANGE THAT. Blue + green are reputedly the two most favourite colours in the spectrum & I did not mean for this to happen but evidently ONCE AGAIN I am breaking the norm in my choices. I don't mean to be a rebel, I was just born that way. (I can foresee indigo being used more in at least one upcoming eventual down-the-line novel, but that one isn't connected to Plenilune so I'm not including it here.)

do you have the blues?

Do you have passages in your stories that showcase your use of blue? Does it signify anything particular, or do you just really like the colour blue? Share in the comments!

HOW TO COLLAGE || I use the LAYOUT app with images saved off PINTEREST. That way I can arrange them however I want, & presto! I have a pretty collage. That's honestly all there is to it.

thanks so much for reading! i hope you enjoyed this perspective on blue.

Welcome back, darlings! Oh my goodness, I had such a time putting this particular colour showcase together. I pull from my Plenilunar Pinterest boards to help me construct the collages, & apparently I'm secretly adverse to green?? I had to dig + dig to find representatives for this post! Which strikes me as super weird because I see Plenilune with lots of today's colour. (Maybe I'm actually super picky about my greens & I just haven't found THE PERFECT GREEN images? Is that likely? I mean, I'm never picky or anything...)

disclaimer: i have no idea who took these pictures but as i have marvelous taste, clearly these photographers are amazing + if i could give them full credit, i would.

|| VERDIGRIS ||

This colour, despite its lack of representation among my pins, is probably the first impression you get of Plenilune (belated spoiler warning...?). Verdigris is a rich, sleepy, vital, established colour, a colour with roots. It's the colour of the land & growing things, linked with the cycling of the year, with the memories of past generations + the promise of descendants. If I had to pick a single colour to represent Plenilune, it would be this.

Verdigris was especially helpful for me when beginning Plenilune. With an entirely new setting to present to the reader, while at the same time making sure the setting didn't feel conjured for the sole purpose of the reader's view, verdigris + it's sense of the evergreen was crucial in subconsciously informing the reader that this setting has been here, as far as you know, forever, with its own times + rhythms, histories + hopes.

the colour of the commonweal

As such, verdigris is traditionally considered the mark of peace, linked to (among a few others) the third heavenly house (The House of the Two Brothers) & in star-craft is typically depicted by a shorthand illustration of an evergreen branch. (Geeky author irony is not overlooked here, considering Plenilune features a house of two brothers who most distinctly did not exchange a Green Branch in even the sketchiest peaceful sense, okay geeky-author-moment finished.)

Verdigris may be one of the least-flashy colours in the Plenilunar spectrum, but it is certainly not the least important. Conscious or receding from awareness, anyone in Plenilune has that comfortable green sense of belonging somewhere in their genius. (The question for first-time readers is: does Margaret...?)

what is your opinion on green?

Do you find it plays a role in your stories? Please share your thoughts with the class! & if you write your own blog post, please link to it in the comments so we can all enjoy! :D

HOW TO COLLAGE || I use the LAYOUT app with images saved off PINTEREST. That way I can arrange them however I want, & presto! I have a pretty collage. That's honestly all there is to it.

i hope you enjoyed this new glimpse into plenilune! i'll see you soon!

Installment number two of my Plenilunar colour series...you'll notice below that I've done scarlet & I'm skipping orange. Personally, I dislike the colour orange in most of its combinations + arrangements: it's literally the ginger stepchild of the colour spectrum. Okay, hatin' on orange aside, orange is collected under the scarlet heading in Plenilune; there isn't so much hue differentiation there as we have here, so if you happen to really, really like orange, go back + read my scarlet post.

usual disclaimer, all images used are from pinterest & none of them belong to me. art is all about sharing, right??

|| GOLD ||

Gold. Rich, opulent, & in high demand among anyone who is anyone in the Honours. Gold is typically worn, whether as jewellery or goldwork embroidery, & is not usually made into things. In the ancient world, if you didn't cut your wine with water, you were considered an alcoholic; in the Honours, if you start decking your halls with groaning tons of goldware, you're often considered tacky. Gold retains its charm with rarity, & Honourfolk are aware of this.

the gemmy bridle glitter'd free,

like to some branch of stars we see

hung in the golden galaxy.

the bridle bells rang merrily

as he rode down from camelot...

Gold is considered a good-omen metal, a physical embodiment of the element fire; as the "meteor" of colours, it can represent any of the twelve heavenly houses + their associated aspects of life, with the exception of the House of the Two Dolphins (which is associated with water + death, so not really gold's speed, you know?).

In my writing, I find that I use gold to evoke emotion as well as visual impression. Memories + feelings are frequently elicited into the foreground of our awareness by something as simple as a particular scent (dior j'adore perfume always reminds me of one of my aunts, her house, & the early desire to be pretty + fanciful); colour can do the same thing, especially (I find) through writing it, which bypasses the eyes & goes straight to the mind, & isn't hindered by any material image. I can link gold with a sense of richness, a sense of nostalgia, a feeling of energy just on the verge of being kinetic... Mercury's colour is quick to carry any notion I like.

share your thoughts!

Do you use gold? Does gold represent anything special in your writing? Tell us what you think! If you make your own colour post, please link to it in the comments so we can all enjoy it!

HOW TO COLLAGE || I use the LAYOUT app with images saved off PINTEREST. That way I can arrange them however I want, & presto! I have a pretty collage. That's honestly all there is to it.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I love making layout collages of images. It's an easy form of art & everyone seems to enjoy the results, so I've decided to harness the fun & run the colour spectrum, this time highlighing the world of my novel Plenilune+ its accompanying stories. Yes, I love monochrome, but my novels are where the colour's at.

just as a normal disclaimer, i want to point out that all of these images are on pinterest, & none of them belong to me. i'm just borrowing their plumage. enjoy!

|| SCARLET ||

Not a cheap dye to manufacture, scarlet is a potent status symbol, but it is also a visible expression of the choleric temperament, representing passion, energy, + power. In Plenilune, it is prominently associated with the first + tenth houses, of Mars + Capricorn, & is subsequently linked with personal ambition + patriarchal responsibility. (Astrology is a real deal with these folks.)

Scarlet is a life colour, & possibly one of my personal favourites to crop up in my writing. It is vibrant, potent, + symbolically vivid. Yes, I love to be monochrome, but I'm scarlet on the inside. (Love it or hate it, my writing has never been called drab!) Even though I write prose (with the occasional dubious foray into poetry), I love the way poetry can lead you through a series of colour sensations, & I work hard to do the same with my prose. In Plenilune, scarlet is one of the boldest colours to leap off the page, & I love it!

share your colours!

There are more colours to come, but I'm curious to see what colours you utilize in your writing. You can do the whole spectrum with images, or maybe just highlight a few favourites. (It's also a helpful way to see which colours you tend to leave out, eh heh...)

HOW TO || I'm sure there are lots of ways to create these collages; mine is probably not the most efficient but OH WELL. I use the LAYOUT app with images saved off PINTEREST. That way I can arrange them however I want, & presto! I have a pretty collage. That's honestly all there is to it.

For those of us of the internet generation, it's been a crazy year across the board. Politics + pop culture have seen some insane disruptions which leave us youngsters scratching our heads. And then many of our personal lives have experienced what seem like abnormally large setbacks too (it could just be the PMS effect, though: everything bad seems to wait to strike during PMS, & is magnified tenfold by hormones...).

I never have the urge to relive a year. I'm usually scuttling in panic to get as far away from the last as possible - 2016 is no exception. Lots of stress, lots of anxiety, lots of physical + mental pain. No year comes without those, but 2016 seems to have been given a double portion.

so you can imagine my delight + relief to be able to close out the old year + ring in the new with such a wonderful culmination of 2016's agonizing, everlasting waiting

Roughly 3:30 New Year's Eve morning, Wolfgang Aleksandr plopped into the world. I've got lots of funny, gross stories - like my water breaking basically like an enormous + hilariously-timed water balloon - but I'll try to keep those to a minimum. Despite carrying nearly twice the weight I had with Filigree, Wolfgang turned out to be only three ounces heavier than his sister. (I don't even know, you guys. I don't even know.) But that means my physical damage has been minimal, & my recovery is trucking along beautifully.

Mr. Squishy-face Wolfgang I is also doing very well. There's a lot to learn when one is only a few days old, but he's managing. He'll probably get to the last lawn cut of the season by next week. Well, we might let it slide this once, since he was so obliging as to come inside of 2016 & provide us with an immediately viable tax deductible. XD

here's to being done waiting, here's to that new-baby smell, here's to squishy kisses + a brand new year